The Weekly High Five 🐾

Hey Reader,
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The backpacks are back in the front hall. Supply lists on the counter, new sneakers by the door.

Somewhere in the middle of that is a dog who has spent ten weeks with a full house. Kids home at noon. Somebody on the couch every afternoon. A person in almost every room, all day, every day.

In about a week, that ends. Same house, empty by 7:40 in the morning.

Most families I talk to have already clocked this. The plan is usually some version of "we'll ease him into it once school starts."

Let's be real. That's the part that doesn't hold, and it has nothing to do with how much you care.

Your dog doesn't experience September as a schedule change. He experiences it as every good thing leaving at once. Company, noise, somebody's hand on his head, gone in one morning.

If the first time he's ever really alone is the first day of school, then alone means loss. He builds that association on day one, and he builds it fast.

Essentially, you can't teach a dog to be okay with quiet on the day the quiet shows up. The practice has to happen while the house is still full, in small doses, when nothing is riding on it.

I worked with an English Lab puppy named Nova on a version of this. Different trigger (guests, not school), same mechanic.

Her family had been putting her behind a gate when people came over. She barked the whole time. The other side of that gate was unbearable to her.

So we moved the timing instead of the gate. Frozen Kong, handed over 15 minutes before anyone arrived, while the house was still calm. By the time guests walked in, she was already deep into something good.

Her family's takeaway was simple: give her the good thing before the doorbell, not after.

Try one rep a day between now and the first day of school.

Give your dog something good (frozen Kong, licky mat, a chew he actually works at) while everyone's still home. Wait a minute. Then step out of the room and close the door. Come back before he's finished.

That's the whole rep. Two or three minutes, not an hour.

You're teaching him that a closed door means the good thing is already happening, not that it just walked out.

Nova ended up settling with guests in the room, Kong in front of her, no barking. Same puppy, same doorbell. All that moved was when the good thing started.

A few short reps between now and then will do more than one long, well-intentioned session you try on the first morning.

Even a week of that gets most dogs a long way. Where it gets tricky is how far to stretch the time for your dog, and telling apart a dog who's bored behind that door from one who's genuinely panicking. Those look almost identical from the hallway and they need opposite plans.

If you'd rather have that mapped out than guess at it, that's what a 2-Hour Consultation is for. We work through your dog, your house, and your September schedule, and the written plan comes back the next day. https://down4paws.com/2-hour-consultation/

You've got about a week. That's still enough, as long as you start tonight.

Happy training,

Pam,
CCDT

Find me on IG: @down4paws